I am running two Humax 9200T at the moment. I bought them in 2009 and had naively hoped that they would see me out! (I am 69).

Lately both have been unreliable in that you cannot guarantee that the programmes you set up to record will record. So much so that my wife tends to set up both PVRs to record programmes she wants to watch. Last night was a classic example: she set up to record Channel 3 and 1 at 9:00 p.m. upstairs recorded downstairs did not, however downstairs recorded channel 2 at 10:00 p.m. upstairs did not, although one PVR is more reliable than the other.

Our three TVs and two PVRs all work off the same Arial which is split four ways on a booster. The signal strength is always shown as good, we use two transmitters South West and Bristol. TVs, all Panasonic, all work fine.

When we first bought this kit we did not have these problems and it all worked fine. Over two years we had the occasional glitch/corruption which we resolved with a Factory reset or in dire cases a reformat of the hard drive. But now it is almost becoming a weekly factory reset, it is almost as if Humax has built a “life expectancy/redundancy in the software” and ours is coming to the end it. I have read all sorts of tales about duff Capacitors but have yet to see hard evidence or Humax stating that they should be changed.

So what is my question? Well I have terminal cancer and I would like to leave my wife (68 non tech wife – do not tell her I said that) with a working system! ANY working system. I am not attached to Humax by an umbilical cord and am quite happy to go to any supplier, what I am after is RELIABILITY.

Any recommendations, and reasons please, for two replacement PVRs would be more than welcome. Happy to consider HD or Freesat but do not want to go to a pay to view service such as Sky, we are pensioners

Many thanks for any help given.

On the Freesat platform the only basic reliable one is the Humax HDR but of course you will need a dish installed (and not by cowboys for long term reliability).

Automan.

The Humax HDR FOX T2 will replace your 9200's.

However your comment about using two tramsmitters is probably the reason for your recording problems. If you have channels from more than transmitter on each box then on Humax pvrs the result is problems with recording as you describe. It's easy to tell if that's the case as there will be channel numbers over 800 in the channel list.

The solution is pretty easy, firstly you need to decide which transmitter you want on each box.

Delete all the existing channels (easiest way is do a install with the aerial out).

After replacing the aerial instead of using autotune use manual tune for the 5 UHF channels used for the transmitter.

Assuming it's Mendip the channels you want are

61 54 48 67 52

There are two relays in Bristol

Kings Weston

43 50 53 57 60

Ilchester Crescent

41 44 42 45 49

Look at your aerial if it's horizontal then it should get best reception from Mendip. If vertical then one of the Bristol relays should give the best signals.
Last edited by grahamlthompson : 25-02-2012 at 11:13

Thanks chaps for your near instant replies, impressed. My tvs will all accept a HD picture and I think I may well go the HDR FOX T2 route.

Thanks for the info on setting up channels Graham. I should have added that we have two aerials, pointing to the relevant transmitter, connected to come down one cable. We have always used both transmitters as long as I can remember (1978ish) we have family in both areas so local news is good. And I have got to say this has not been a major problem before.
Last edited by glamington : 25-02-2012 at 11:26

The HDR FOX T2 will also require setting up with only 1 transmitter. If you don't you will get the same problems as your 9200 is giving.

If you need access to more than 1 region the Satellite option is best because a Freesat box has all the BBC regions on it's epg.

Thanks, Freesat seems to be the answer

To run two Foxsat-hdrs you will need a dish with a quad lnb with two coax cables to each location for full twin tuner recording capability.

I have humax hdr's and have never had a proplem so I would reccomend them 100%

Just be aware that there ARE documented problems with the HDR which will never be fixed as it is nearing the end of its design life. The next model (later this year?) will no doubt bring improvements and (knowing Humax) its own set of new problems.
I am generally happy with mine though
Frank

Hi there Glamington, i agree with Frank1, we had a Humax Foxsat HDR for 2 years then it failed, despite e-mails to Humax, they weren't interested, almost as though they have given up on resolving any issues with this model? So we took a chance on an Echostar HDS 600rs, its been great so far and very easy to set up and use. Would definitely recommend this Freesat recorder, and it can be bought for around £180. Good luck whatever you choose.

Thanks for the all the help and information.

At present I thought I would go with Graham's option. I have done a reinstallation on the Humaxs and loaded them manually, one to Mendip and one to South West.

Further, I have split the aerials so that the TVs are now not connected through the Humaxs, whilst messing around I remembered that I originally choose Humax because I could use my old non Digital TVs! The TV’s I have auto tuned to both Mendip and South West (800 numbers).

So as I see it “her in doors” gets all the programmes she wants with the TVs and perhaps, just perhaps I might not get my ear bent by missed recordings. Hey hey that would be good!

In the meantime I will await the replacement Foxstat HDR and have a look at the Echostar.

Thanks chaps

i installed a dish for a customer yesterday so he could install his New Foxsat HDR Receiver. all went well... i sorted the dish for him with a quad LNB, 2 cables etc.... we went through the set up proceedure, entered postcode etc. the channels loaded and the box came up with 101 BBC1.....
HOWEVER..... that was it... this is the ONLY Channel we can access. the remote, even having worked for us during the setup now will not work at all. Yes the correct PVR button has been pressed, yes the redlight flashes on the remote But no access to anything. Yes we tried a reboot and apart from that there is no way to access the menu so we cannot do a 'factory Reset' or in fact watch anything except BBC1.....
Anyone any ideas????
apart of course that either the so called 'super dooper Humax' Box is faulty or maybe the remote.....
this is not the first 'glitch' i have had with these HDR Devices. i personally am not that convinced with their 'pedigree'!!!

Can you change channels etc with the controls under the flap (there is a menu button) if so it may be just the remote control. ? You could try removing the batteries and pressing any button to discharge the remote power supply.

Other than that short of a 15 minute complete power down there's little else you can do. Get it replaced by the retailer who supplied it. Mine is still 100% from November 2010. Being retired it must be on at least 12 hrs daily.

I have the echostar freesat HD box and its fantastic